McCoy Construction and Forestry is in the process of building a new facility in Escanaba, as they’ve outgrown the home they currently occupy at 1818 N. Lincoln Rd. Daily Mining Gazette photo)

ESCANABA — McCoy Construction and Forestry, which has locations in eight states, is in the process of building a new facility in Escanaba, as they’ve outgrown the home they currently occupy at 1818 N. Lincoln Rd.

McCoy is a John Deere dealer specializing in construction, forestry, and compact equipment. They sell new and used products from John Deere and attachments from allied brands like Esco, Towmaster and Waratah. Rentals and service are also provided on-site. McCoy Construction and Forestry of Escanaba offers preventative maintenance and service of not only their own merchandise but comparable competitive equipment, as well.

John Deere equipment has been housed and sold from the existing location — initially, from the back of the building — since 1977. Through the early ’80s, it was DC Equipment; then Ison Equipment bought the business and ran it from 1986 to 1999.

From the turn of the century to 2018, Nortrax Equipment operated the Lincoln Road facility, and then in June of 2018, McCoy Construction and Forestry — part of McCoy Group headquartered in Dubuque, Iowa — bought the business.

On April 29, 2024, the next step for McCoy was taken with the breaking of ground at 6442 U.S. 2 and 41 and M-35, just a mile and a half down the road, between Upper Peninsula Concrete Pipe Co. and Muffler Man.

“We had a need to expand our facility and make it bigger and better,” said Jeff Carlson, the general manager of McCoy Construction and Forestry of Escanaba. “The equipment today versus what it was 20, 30 years ago — it’s totally changed. Everything’s gotten a lot bigger.”

The new place will provide all the products and services that the old one does currently — just in a more comfortable space. Carlson said that the new plot, which was purchased from Ken Gartland, is seven-and-a-half acres.

“We’re building a ten-bay shop. It’s got a full parts department, it’s got a full-service department, wash bays … cold storage facility…” listed Carlson.

Since the 29th, heavy equipment has been hard at work at the new site — a contrast to the shiny new machines sitting at the dealership waiting for contractors to give them life. Tasks began with M.J. VanDamme, Inc. from Gwinn doing the dirt work. At the groundwork stage, it’s hard to gauge a completion date, but it may be late fall or early spring of 2025.

By next year, though, if not before, Escanaba should be looking forward to what Carlson called “a new John Deere state-of-the-art facility for sales, parts and service of John Deere products.”